Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Purple-Black Vortex

Xu Xin stared at the small vortex above her head and picked up a stone from the ground.

This purplish-black vortex was only the size of a soccer ball, quietly spinning, with the surrounding space constantly twisting as if it were about to suck all the space into it.

Xu Xin stepped back a few meters, kept her distance, and then threw the stone in her hand towards the purplish-black vortex.

At the moment the vortex was hit by the stone, Xu Xin saw the vortex suddenly ripple, and then the stone vanished into the vortex.

Simultaneously, the water vortex surrounding the area trembled like a wall, with some water sprinkling onto the ground of this internal space, and even the tornado above twisted suddenly.

Does throwing something into this purplish-black vortex affect the tornado?

…Could it be the reason for the tornado’s formation?!

Xu Xin picked up a larger stone and threw it over.

The same scenario occurred again, but the magnitude was a bit larger this time. The surrounding water vortex distorted, and the tornado above twisted for a while before returning to its original form.

“Damn!”

A fist-sized stone fell from the sky and hit the ground in front of Xu Xin, making him exclaim in surprise.

The previous twist caused the resources spinning inside the tornado to be affected, falling into this small internal area, causing a rain of resources in the air.

Xu Xin immediately retreated to the edge of the water vortex. If those things got close to the tornado or the water vortex again, they would be sucked in, so the edge of the area was safe.

Many redwoods and crystals fell into this area, along with several beast corpses that fell down with a “splat” sound.

The scene was somewhat gruesome, causing Xu Xin, who had hunted countless beasts, to twitch his face.

It seems that the tornado around here is indeed caused by this small vortex.

After the resource rain stopped, he immediately began scavenging.

The fallen items were green-grade redwoods and crystals, all of which Xu Xin welcomed into his backpack as they could be used as carving materials, potentially very useful to him.

As for the beast corpses turned to meat paste… no thanks. They were a bit disgusting, and ordinary beast materials were basically useless to him now.

Xu Xin picked up another stone.

He had tasted sweet success. It seemed like as long as he forcefully attacked this black vortex, the tornado would twist, and countless resources would fall down.

This way, he could comfortably gather resources without having to search all over the place.

Another rain of resources fell, Xu Xin stood delightedly by the water vortex, watching countless resources fall from the sky, then went forward to scavenge.

Just as he picked up a stone again, intending to attack the purplish-black vortex for the fourth time, he stopped.

Because he noticed that each time he attacked this small vortex, it would grow a bit larger.

The vortex, originally the size of a soccer ball, was gradually expanding to the size of a tire. Moreover, from the once silent vortex, fragmented sounds began to emerge.

The “woo woo” sound resembled a sinister wind echoing through the valleys, though intermittent, Xu Xin could still catch it.

“Is there something inside?” Xu Xin suddenly became alert.

He suddenly thought of that Blood-striped Marlin.

Before he came in, he kept wondering, where did this marlin come from? Could it have surfaced from this purplish-black vortex?

Is this purplish-black vortex actually connected to other places?

For a moment, Xu Xin felt an urge to go in and take a look, but that thought was immediately dispelled by himself.

That would be like an old man hanging himself, seeking death. He wasn’t looking to shorten his life.

However, continuing to throw stones into it was still something he could try. He was a bit curious about what might appear when the vortex expanded to a certain size.

So, he threw the stone in his hand.

The vortex stirred, the tornado twisted, and yet another batch of resources fell.

By the seventh time he threw a stone, the purplish-black vortex had expanded to roughly a size Xu Xin could directly jump into, with a diameter close to two meters, and the sounds within the vortex became clearer.

“Woo woo… woo woo…”

It sounds a bit like a child crying, but Xu Xin can still distinguish that this is actually just the sound of the wind, the kind of sound that occurs when wind passes through a valley with peculiar terrain.

On the other side of this vortex, it might really be leading to another place.

But Xu Xin didn’t concern himself with the vortex first; instead, he picked up the batch of descending resources.

Clearly, the quantity is much less than before, with only a few scattered pieces. It seems that even in this tornado, there aren’t many resources, basically already drained by him.

Xu Xin checked his backpack: over a hundred green-grade crystals, over a hundred green-grade red wood pieces. In addition, there are some ordinary stones, wood, and beast corpses on the ground, which he did not pick up.

With the backpack on his back, he looked up at the purple-black vortex before him, which had grown quite large. Aside from the eerie wind sounds, there were other noises in the vortex, like the sound of rocks rolling or the rustling of leaves in the wind.

And… the sound of something writhing.

He can now basically confirm that this vortex leads to another place. This vortex, causing the tornado, likely functions like a portal or wormhole.

What exactly is on the other side of this vortex?

This vortex appearing here certainly has a reason. But he doesn’t know what the position inside the vortex is, whether all places in this world have been invaded by subterranean creatures, whether inside the vortex is within a protected zone, and if entering will transport him out of the protected zone, surrounded by subterranean creatures.

…If only Keke were here, it could tell him whether there’s danger or treasure inside the vortex.

Xu Xin decided to test it first. Using the treehouse manufacturing function on his watch, he made a wooden stick. A wooden stick can be made without a weapon manufacturing station.

Because the vortex had grown much larger, the lowest edge is now only slightly taller than Xu Xin. The surrounding space distortion made him not dare to get too close.

He gripped the wooden stick tightly in hand and cautiously reached toward the vortex.

Just as the stick touched the vortex edge, a force came from the stick, instantly pulling half of it into the vortex, Xu Xin immediately pulled with force to jerk the half-absorbed stick out.

Looking at the stick he pulled out, Xu Xin’s eye twitched: “…Indeed.”

The stick, pulled in for less than a second, was now riddled with holes, as if it was corroded by acid.

The stick was coated with some dark red viscous substance, still sizzling, eroding the stick, emitting black smoke.

“Crack.”

The wooden stick, eroded beyond recognition, snapped, the damaged half falling to the ground and shattering, while the sticky substance clung to the ground, eroding a hole several centimeters deep before gradually disappearing.

“…Is it really this terrifying?”

Luckily, he had anticipated this might happen, made the stick to experiment first.

Xu Xin was now very sensitive to red things, and seeing the dark red viscous substance, he immediately thought of mutant beasts.

“Could it be some mutant beast’s secretions? And that mutant beast is guarding on the other side?” Xu Xin speculated.

No matter what, he absolutely would not go into this vortex; it’s too dangerous inside.

But this doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do anything.

He directly pulled out his crossbow, aimed at the vortex, and fired. If there really is a mutant monster inside, let’s give it some trouble.

The crossbow arrow shot into the vortex, causing a wave, and then disappeared.

As the arrow vanished, the sounds inside the vortex abruptly stopped. The eerie wind sounds, leaves rustling, occasional rock rolling all suddenly ceased. The purple-black vortex quietly rotated, returning to its initial state.

“What’s going on?” Xu Xin frowned. Why did the sounds stop?

Suddenly, the vortex began wildly fluctuating again, this time very intensely, like boiling water, but emanating a piercing cold.

Xu Xin’s face changed dramatically, just as he thought the vortex would explode, planning to flee it abruptly contracted inward, shrinking to a tiny point and then vanished without warning.

And along with it vanished the surrounding water vortex and the massive tornado in the air.

It was just in that instant. The tornado disappeared, and materials still caught in it were flung into the surroundings by inertia. The surrounding water stopped spinning, freely flowing from all sides, engulfing Xu Xin standing on the ground.

Xu Xin hadn’t even reacted, suddenly submerged, choking a bit. He quickly swam to the water surface.

The tornado truly vanished; the clouds seemed to have a big hole, with sunlight streaming through, reflecting on the water and causing ripples.

But this gap in the clouds quickly filled in, the localized clear sky appearing for only a dozen seconds, before rain once again battered Xu Xin’s face.